Israel says goodbye to American supertanker

After the American Boeing 747 Supertanker completed two missions in Israel, it returned to Colorado Springs today. The massive aircraft was the 21st plane to arrive in Israel in order to help the country deal with the wave of fires and arson attacks.

The American supertanker, the largest firefighting aircraft in the world and the only one capable of operating at night, returned today (Wednesday) to the US. The aircraft operated twice in Israel since it landed on Friday. The supertanker first carried out a mission over Nataf in order to extinguish any last remaining embers to prevent blazes from re-igniting.

The massive aircraft then dropped water over Zikhron Ya'akov and Haifa. Senior-level Israeli officials criticized the use of the Boeing 747 Supertanker given the fact that most of the fires had already been extinguished. However, the aircraft was used twice because the process of bringing it to Israel was expensive and complicated.

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The supertanker Photo Credit: Assaf Greenboum/Channel 2 News

When the supertanker landed in Israel on Friday, it became the 21st aircraft to arrive in Israel since the beginning of the wave of fires and arson attacks. On Sunday morning, the aircraft went on its second mission above Zikhron Ya'akov and Haifa.